interlude: stories from school

one story that i like telling my boys tells the adventures of 2 lions. they like to explore and journey out of their comfort zones. they are best of friends and they go out of their way to help others. one particular story tells of how they both face fear. it starts with being consumed and they flee the situation. then they decide to go back to confron their fear. but this time they vow to stand to gether and reach out their hands and clasp one another's. when times are particularly scary they promise to squeeze each other's hand. the story goes on and how together they go beyond and extend their hands to help. it's a bed time story. they enjoy listeing. i enjoy telling it.

ashley started school this term. a new boy into reception (4-5year olds). when i go in he lhas that new kid look. a little scared and often looking around for someone... anyone that he can call a friedn. he is in caleb's class. caleb seldomly tells of what happens in his class. getting info from him is not easy.

angie told me today that a mother came up to her to say thank you. upon probing she enquires what for. this lady says ashley keeps talking about caleb. how he looks after him.... how when he is there caleb holds ashley's hand.

Location:Börtjistrasse,,Switzerland

Some pics from today between runs

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Location:Symondstrasse,,Switzerland

Day 4 :)

Snow chains

When it snows. Traffic does not come to a standstill. When the snow tires do not work... Then it's time to get the snow tires out.











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Location:Föhrenweg,,Switzerland

Our Daily car ride up the hills

Carwyn & Jonnie

About 3 years ago one of the interns working with me went to a summer festival as part of a recruitment drive. Whilst there one met an energetic girl about a Haiti project.

Three and a half year's later I find myself in Davos with Carwyn & Jonnie. Specifically right now we're trying to approach Bono for some time. Carwyn tells me that five and a half year's ago he heard a call for justice at a U2 concert. Five years later he and Jonnie are the co founders of the Haiti Hospital Appeal. An NGO that has recently been at the heart of the recent Cholera outbreak. Instrumental in setting up Haiti's first spinal care unit and much much more.

I love meeting such inspiring people and its a privilege to serve alongside them.



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Training and lunches

A few shots from the team just before the action is about to kick off:












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Location:Kurgartenstrasse,,Switzerland

Davos day 2

Today is preparation day. Dress rehearsals for cast. PR. Getting people to take part. And much more.

This is now my third year here and it certainly brought back heaps of emotion walking through the tent to the afghan room. The camp itself looked incredible. Every year more trinkets and authentic props emerge detailing the room with precision.

My job for the day was that of getting people to cordon off an hour from their busy schedules to come. The average meeting at Davos I think is less than an hour. CEOs like to line their meetings back to back. My task to ask for one hour of their time to transpose them to another world. To invite them to step into the shoes of someone else. To entice people away to a different world.

My phonecalls stretched from the royals to senior partners to prime ministers. With interlude visits from the Wall Street Journal, the international justice movement and more. And this isn't even an action day.

It's hard to grasp what we are just about to embark upon and with who. Very grateful to be here but feeling like it's all a little unreal.


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Location:Uebertobel,Conters im Prättigau,Switzerland

Day 1# Rest Day

more pics

Today is the calm before the storm. Absolutely beautiful at the top of the world... here are some more pics :)





















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Location:Hauptstrasse,Kublis,Switzerland

Top of the world

Currently sitting having a bowl of chips and gluewhine on Jakob's Horn. It's our day off before the action kicks in. The calm before the storm.

Spoke to my boys this morning and they told me that, after checking, there's no snow outside. Wish they were here to tackle a few of these hills.

Simply stunning in every direction.













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the view from kublis where we are staying

off to Davos again

This time tomorrw i shall be enroute to the beautiful swiss town of kublis in preparation for the 2011 Refugee Run.

This is now my third outing to Davos. Yesterday I was running through the experience with a friend and found myself shivering with fear/anxiety at some of the tense parts of the simulation.

Angie said that even now she still feels the anger at the way her mother was treated when she took part, but it serves as a strong reminder of the realities that the 32.9 million sitting in this category.

It certainly a privilege to bring such an experinece to people who have power to make changes.

attitude

so joshua is currently keen to show off some attitude and here he is in action.

sleep talking

last night taking caleb back to sleep he started to talk in his sleep:

"Papa, look it's "Chewie"! He's real!"

It could have something to do with his new cuddly nocturnal member of his bed.

feeding the ducks

more mucking around on some software

lest we forget

it was the end of the day. preparations for rush hour are underway. final emails being sent. thoughts straying towards supper, putting children to bed, television.

these were my thoughts 12 moths ago at the close of tuesday 12th january. it was a busy time. we were in the midst of launching a new website. a website that stood 5 years in the making. i had just paid the rent and spent time with a new volunteer about an exciting new programmme of delivering poverty based simulations.

these were my thoughts on the close of tuesday 12th january. for the people of haiti their country was to change, again, forever.

when i walked through mostar, a city ravaged by war there was a sign by the bridge which was being reconstructed saying "do not forget". the bridge was an icon of the town. what it stood for. took an incredible feat of construction to build and stand in the heart of that town. it crumbled within seconds with a missile.

today i choose to remember haiti. (more reflections from my visit can be viewed here)

Spot the wild thing

storytime at daddy and me... can you spot the wild thing?

New year

Is it really a new decade? I thought that was last year. There certainly is, however, a sense of freshness, newness that comes and often with a dual sense of optimism married with emptiness. An odd cocktail of feelings that occur in that moment before the new year really kicks in with the resuming of life.



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Location:Cambrian Rd,Royal Tunbridge Wells,United Kingdom

All the ones

So today's date comprises of just one digit six times: 1.1.11


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Location:Cambrian Rd,Royal Tunbridge Wells,United Kingdom